


We Carry on III - Merryfrond

by SSJandTechno



Series: We Carry On [3]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Cassandra de Rolo Needs a Hug, Dancing, Displacement, F/M, Nostalgia, Percy is a pile of issues in a nice coat, So much displacement, Vex is just grieving
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-28
Updated: 2020-12-30
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:21:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,946
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28382394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SSJandTechno/pseuds/SSJandTechno
Summary: One of the problems with being conquered is that the conquerors will scour your identity away. Half a generation later, few now live who remember. Cassandra de Rolo will not let her people's history go.After episode 115 of Campaign 1, the survivors of Vox Machina have lives ahead of them. But all of them, and Cassandra, will carry the scars of their experiences until their final breaths. This is a story of the surviving de Rolos, old and new, trying to live on.If you can possibly be bothered, read the first one, then the second one, then this one, but this does more or less make sense on its own.
Relationships: Cassandra de Rolo & Percival "Percy" Fredrickstein Von Musel Klossowski de Rolo III, Percival "Percy" Fredrickstein Von Musel Klossowski de Rolo III/Vex'ahlia
Series: We Carry On [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2020607
Comments: 3
Kudos: 21





	1. Chapter 1

“Again. When you’re ready, fiddler.” Eight women stood at the South end of the dining room, some of their skirts kilted so that their feet could be seen. Some were starting to look winded from repeating and repeating the dance. Vex wasn’t, but she was used to much harder physical exertion than several of these girls were. The fiddler started the leading count. Cassandra didn’t even cue this bit now, she knew they knew to take hands and raise them. The eight women were two pairs, two pairs were a lady and her personal maid, the cook, Girta, had brought one of her maids in, so had Elsie, the housekeeper. Cassandra tapped her heel on the floor four times, then all eight of them set off, circling left. It wasn’t quite a skip, nor the formal lu’ith of elven dancing, the step one used for this in Whitestone was different again. It had taken a while for it to become automatic for Vex. Eight left, then eight right, flashing the following heel up each step, enough to flare a skirt and show its lining, not enough to show much of a leg. Vex offered her left arm to Alice to turn, then her right to Erin, then Alice, then Erin, then back to Alice for the ‘salute’. That was the bit that had really got Vex initially, the peculiar combination of heels and toes and kicks so that everyone moved in exactly the same way. Merryfrond, the first proper Merryfrond in Whitestone since The Briarwoods, was three days away, and Cassandra was determined that Presentation Dances would start again. 

“Leads.” Cassandra called, starting for the middle as Vex, Girta, and Elsie did the same. Vex went to turn left but stopped herself. Everything was backwards in the middle, she reminded herself. Eight right, simple skips this time, then back to the left, turn Alice left handed, then the younger women repeated the step. This dance, as Vex understood it, was always and exclusively danced by women, as an older woman commending a younger, either a mother presenting her daughter, and declaring her ready to accept suit, or a mistress commending a servant. Or as Percy put it, declaring that you were wealthy enough to keep a maidservant, and to pay her well enough that nobody would be able to easily poach her from you. For Vex to not present Alice would be declaring herself a miserly or cruel mistress, afraid that her servant would be poached if anyone knew she had any value. So Vex put up. She did as was expected of her as a noblewoman.  
“Pass.” Cassandra called. Two handed turns, in something like the elven fashion, the younger women being passed from person to person until they got back to their mistresses.  
“And stack.” Vex passed Alice in to the middle and started left at a fast skip, hearing Girta panting behind her. Twelve counts, turn on your inside foot, twelve the other way, change places with Alice. Girta’s panting had got quieter by the time they formed one ring again, the elder women displayed the younger in hand, then the ending was the same as the beginning. 

“And that’ll do.” Cassandra said. Girta stepped back, panting, Elsie dropped her head. “Thank you, one and all, we’ll repeat this before dinner tomorrow, but we can at least get through it now, without any very obvious errors. All dismissed.”

Vex didn’t leave. Neither did Cass for a moment. She un-kilted her skirts, slowly and deliberately. It was a moment before she looked up at Vex.  
“We’re getting there.”  
Vex nodded. She wanted to ask why Cass was so fixated on this, so tormenting herself about it, but Cass was… Like Percy, Cass was damaged. Their childhood, like Vex’s, was a fabled land they could never return to, and they’d been snatched from it too young. She supposed Cass was clasping at any fragments she could gather, as she and Vax had dug, bare handed and weeping, through the ashy ruins of their mother’s house, years after Thordak. Vex blinked at the echo of pain.  
Cass left in that moment. 

The next day before dinner, the eight women and the fiddler gathered again. Cass pushed them through the dance twice, with only minor errors, none of which were Vex’s or Alice’s fault. They’d got to the point of chanting “Left, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Right, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Swing you, swing other, swing you…” whenever they were alone together. Alice had only barely lost the habit of mouthing it.  
“One more, then we stop.” Cass called. “We have two days.”  
They took hands and started again. Vex glimpsed the door crack open as she circled, but had her back to the door for the most part.  
“Ignore him.” Cass called. “We need to do this being stared at. Ignore him.” 

When she threw Alice in to the middle and the younger girls started clapping, someone behind her clapped in time. She glanced over her shoulder. Percy. Bare to the elbow and newly washed, watching them dance and clapping along with his head cocked to the side. Vex passed in to the middle and looked at him. He didn’t quite seem to be seeing them. He looked nostalgic more than anything else.  
When they stopped, the six servants curtseyed to him.  
“Did that look right to you?” Cass asked. 

Percy sighed and cast his hands wide. “You’re asking one who never danced it.”  
“Only one here has.” Cass had been too young to be presented by her mother, and far too young to have a personal maid. Elsie had been presented by Vesper once. All servants above her in rank had been killed out of hand.  
Percy shook his head. “As best I can tell.”  
“What did you come in for Percy?”  
Percy held out a folded piece of paper. “I’ve just been handed this. I need to talk to you.”  
Cass sighed. “All dismissed. Same time tomorrow.”  
Vex didn’t leave. Cass took the paper Percy proffered to her and started reading. Percy’s face was serious. Vex walked over to him and took his hand. He returned her hold.  
“Ever closer union between our towns and noble houses.” Cass read aloud. She looked up at Percy, her face just as serious. “But addressed to you not to me.”  
“He’s asking my leave to court you, Cass.”  
“You don’t need to tell me that.” She turned away.  
“Which son?” Vex asked.  
“Bedevere Morholt.” Cass said. “Bedevere Morholt Pelleas Hanserren.”  
“You don’t seem pleased.” Percy said. Vex had to agree, Cass seemed more afraid than excited. Vex knew how close the two could run, but still…  
Cass drew a breath slowly. “I am pleased, but… I only make this decision once.”  
“This isn’t a proposal, Cass. This is him checking that if he courts you, he’s not going to lose his investment at a later stage for political reasons.” She turned back to face them. “Do you know what you want me to do?”  
Cass hesitated a moment. “Entertain it. Invite one of his family here, not by name. It’s not as though I have to accept a proposal if he makes one.”  
Percy nodded. “I’ll write it in the morning, give that poor runner boy and his horse a night’s rest. Though, for my part, I think he will ask unless you’re intentionally horrible to him. You’re a prize, Cass.”  
“More than I’ve any right to be.”  
Percy gave her a strange look. Vex wondered for a heartbeat if Cass was alluding to the slaughter of her siblings or to Vex’s Erathis ring. “We are where we are, and you are extremely valuable. I’m going to go and finish changing for dinner. This interrupted me.” He let go of Vex’s hand and left.

Cass looked after him a moment, then looked back at Vex. “You’re better at leading men than I am. Any advice?”  
Vex thought for a moment, wondering what of her strategies might be usable for a noblewoman. “What are you trying to achieve?”  
Cass shrugged. “High marital value, I suppose.”  
“On top of being one of only two blood heirs to an estate of this size?” Vex supposed it was much the same thing as being a catch in a small town. “Keep more than one in play if it’s practical, make it very clear that they need you more than you need them, say no more often than yes, never be fully impressed, if they ask for your company, always be busy, finish what you were doing before you go to them, but don’t wait for them. Wander off. And make sure that you enforce your ‘no’. Having a bear or a brother who’s known to be vicious is useful.”  
“Can I borrow your bear?” Cass asked. “I think most people know Percy can be dangerous when roused, but I don’t have a bear.”  
Vex smiled. “Of course.” She took a breath. “And, obviously, if you actually want him, stop being a minx, push the others away, and let him catch you.” Opening the door to Percy completely naked might have been the very definition of letting him catch her. Percy might have said it was more like the badger’s trick of rolling on its back and biting its would-be hunter.


	2. Chapter 2

Merryfrond dawned clear and bright. Alice was in as punctually as ever, her hands full of pale blue ribbons. Vex raised an eyebrow at her.  
“For your hair, m’lady.”  
“Why?”  
Alice looked taken aback at the question. “Because… Because it’s Merryfrond. Everyone wears ribbons in their hair at Merryfrond, m’lady.”  
“Even the men?” Vex had had ribbon wearing beaten out of her in Syngorn. A peasant trying to hide her dross wore ribbons. Noblewomen wore jewels.  
“All the women, then, m’lady. You must.”  
Vex looked at Percy for confirmation. He was still in bed. He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Daughters of The House, yes… I think Alice is right.”  
Vex waved a hand. “Alright.” She would do what was expected of her.

There was a definite buzz in the castle once Vex left her rooms, half a pace behind Percy. Breakfast was small, servants were flitting in and out, Alice stood as if on duty braiding Saskia’s hair. Cass let it slide. She was also wearing ribbons, hers were white, matching the streak in her hair. It was artful, obviously planned.   
“So this is all day?” Vex said.  
“Hiring, firing, and beguiling.” Percy said. “I haven’t fired anyone, have you?”  
Cass and Vex shook their heads. “So today is an excuse to do nothing useful, and possibly get drunk.”  
Cass gave him a reproachful look. “Just don’t do anything stupid.”  
Percy looked hard at her as though he thought of saying more, but didn’t.

The square around the sun tree was thronging by the time the three of them made it down, though it couldn’t have been half way to noon. Hawkers shouted about their sweetmeats, children ran through people’s legs with sticky fingers. Percy saw Vex reflexively guard her purse, but nobody in their right mind would dare rob her. Percy had only bought a couple of gold down anyway. If a thief got past his wife’s eagle eyes to steal it, fair play to that thief. One of the day’s six fiddlers was already playing, a hand drummer with him. Cass had paid a dozen musicians off for the day to work in shifts, and to do the set dances before anyone got too drunk.   
People were quieter than he remembered them being, there was an anticipant hush to voices. Vex’s maid was beaming at Vex’s heels, looking around at the decked houses and the ribbons on the sun tree. They’d done alright, by Percy’s memory. Nobody who’d organised the previous Merryfrond in Whitestone survived. They’d reconstructed as best they could from people’s memories.   
There was some sort of disturbance ahead of them. Vex was already fidgeting and stretching her neck, trying to see.  
She smiled and relaxed. “An old married couple started a dance; people are joining in.”   
Percy felt her smile spread across his own face. “What are they dancing?”  
“I don’t know, I’ve only learned two Whitestone dances, and I haven’t yet found one that’s the same as it is in Byroden or Syngorn.”  
“Well, Syngorn will be different, won’t it.”  
“They make a point of it.”

Cass led Vex and the other castle women who were presenting towards the fiddlers. People drew back for them, making way, then clearing a space around. Cass met the fiddler’s eye. He started the leading count. Vex took Erin and Alice’s hands, waited four heartbeats, then they all moved as one. There was no sound but the music and their feet now. The young girls had their hair down, Alice’s swung a full foot behind her. Vex caught sight of Alice’s wide grin as she came in for the salute and returned it. She’d not been born with a love of dancing. Vax had. So light, so quick on his feet, their mother had said he’d been born to dance. But his love had rubbed off on her. It was difficult to hate a thing her twin loved, more so in Syngorn. And, beyond that, Elves would only teach you to fight if you could dance. So he had danced, and so had she, because very few pureblood elves would deign to dance with a mongrel. But they’d been good.   
Vex darted for the middle of the circle and caught Elsie’s eye as they faced each other. Elsie looked almost ready to cry with joy. This was their heritage. A lot had been lost to the Briarwoods. This little, they could reclaim. Vex spun and passed Alice again.   
Cass was smiling, but something in it was false. Something small about it was not quite right. Vex felt her own smile falter and fixed it. She could imagine why this would be so painful for Cassandra. She’d chosen to subject herself to it and she was, more or less, an adult.   
When they clapped each other round, all of Whitestone clapped with them. Then they formed the big circle, then it was over. Vex took Alice’s hand and presented her. Alice curtseyed deeply, flushing pink as what felt like all of Whitestone cheered them.   
Vex led Alice back towards Percy, who was smiling too.  
“Dismissed, Alice, go.” Vex said softly. Alice dipped a curtsey as the next four pairs of women formed up to dance, then disappeared in to the crowd. Percy kissed her brow, then did the same to Cass, who didn’t push him away, for once.   
“Well done.” He said. Cass looked relieved, not happy. “Are you going to watch the next set.”  
“No, I’m going to get a drink.”  
“Just don’t do anything st-”  
“Shut up.” She moved away. 

Vex nestled herself in to Percy’s side. There was a shadow behind his eyes.   
“Are you alright?” She asked, very quietly.  
He nodded, almost imperceptibly. “I was fifteen.” Vex heard what he didn’t say. He’d been fifteen years old when he’d last watched this done. Not much more than a child.

There were no fewer than eight groups dancing the presentation. Most of the pairs seemed to be mothers and daughters, though the daughters ranged in age from younger than Alice to Vex’s age. Vex supposed that made sense. If Whitestone had been unable to declare its girls women for so many years, there was a backlog of women who’d been left girls too long.   
Percy looked distant as he watched them. Percy’s distant look was usually tethered to pain, but today it didn’t seem to be. He smiled and clapped the girls round, as he had done Vex and Cass, and there was nothing forced in it. 

“Autumn’s arches!” Called the fiddler, when the stream of girls to be presented eventually dried up. “Autumn’s arches, form pairs, not your wife or your sweeting!”  
“Elsie!” Percy spun on his heel and reached a hand out. Vex turned to see Percy’s fingers catch Elsie’s arm.  
“Lord de Rolo, no-” Elsie started.  
“Come on, you must know it.”  
“I haven’t danced it since-”  
“Well, nobody has! Come on.” Percy took her by the wrist and Elsie seemed to give up. She trotted after Percy. Couples were forming all around Vex, she backed up until she hit the wall of a shop. Parents were taking their children’s hands, Alice seemed to be being asked to dance by a man Vex faintly recognised, Yennen and Cassandra had paired up, for a heartbeat, Vex felt left out. She checked herself. She had the rest of her life to learn these, if she could be bothered to take the time. And this one certainly didn’t look difficult. If she’d thought about it beforehand, she probably could have learned it in an hour, she was hardened to Syngornian court dances. 

Percy came back, and led her through a half dozen simple dances with strong, confident hands as sun rose fully then sank. By sunset, Vex could feel that she was warm and slack with drink. Not drunk, not truly, but unguarded. And judging by Percy’s slow speech, by how easily and how long he laughed, so was he. The urchin in her wanted to bolt. She and her sole companion were dull with drink, they were easy prey to thieves or worse. But this was Whitestone, and she was no urchin now. If she cried out, the whole city would run to her aid. Even unarmed and half drunk, she was safe here.


End file.
